Summertime Perambulations: Sex and Chocolate

Previous perambulation

In our last exciting episode we left off as I was exiting Tangent after having had a spot of lunch and a most salutary gruit. It didn't take long for another ghost sign to come into view. All of ten feet or so.



The front of the building also has a ghost sign – "STORAGE" – but I neglected to take a photo.

Strolling down East Washington I couldn't help but be somewhat amazed at all the tall buildings. Well, tall for Madison. This despite riding a bus past the Constellation, the Galaxie, the Sparx, etc. every weekday to and from work. While I perceive them as normal parts of the streetscape, I suppose, these "skyscrapers" are still new to me having gotten used to a street without them for so long. They get 10 out of 10 points for ridding us of empty lots but minus several million for style.

At Paterson Street I find myself in front of the old Gardner's Bakery with some of a ghost sign visible from down below.



Just across Paterson in front of the still shiny new Hotel Indigo is another decorated utility box. I find this one much more pleasing than the faux fabric of the box at Winnebago Street and Riverside Drive.



On a building on the 1000 block of East Wash I spied some metallic star hoolies.



I had noticed similar things a couple blocks up on the Gisholt building during a previous walk.



Anyone care to take a guess as to what they were for? Mounting points for awnings or some such things, perhaps? I cannot find any historic photographs showing any awnings, however, nor anything hanging off the facade.

Across the street is a harbinger of things to come.



This nice little pocket of greenspace will soon be no more as an 11-storey mixed use building is soon to be erected. And behind it will be the Madison Youth Arts Center.

Continuing my trek, I walked by the city building where fire trucks are kept in working order.



But now that the city has a fleet services building on the way, I suppose this one will be sold and developed into yet another mixed-use affair.

By this point I needed chocolate. But before I would be able to fulfill that desire, I had to take a photo of some locally-sourced graffiti lovingly spray painted in honor of one of the best rock bands Madison has ever produced. This has sadly been painted over since.



Just listen to the glorious "King of Sex". Listen!

Crossing the river I came to my next destination: CocoVaa. The proprietor is my wife's cousin and she makes sinfully tasty chocolates.



Vata won some fancy schmancy award last year and she most certainly deserved it. Her chocolates not only taste magnificent they also look like works of art. Now if I could only get a steep family discount.

I threw the bonbons into my backpack but a pain au chocolat was quickly gobbled down as traveled the riverside east to Lake Monona.

To the shores of Monona Lake

Summertime Perambulations: Willy Street

Previous perambulation

Having ordered my CD it was off for some refreshment. My destination was Tangent where one could get a glass of cold gruit. Gruit refers to beer flavored with herbs, flowers, and spices that aren't hops. In this case I was looking at a sour ale made with mugwort, heather tips, and sweet, sweet gale. It is wonderful to see such a beer in a world where it seems that most craft beers are either so fruity as to be indistinguishable from Boone's Farm or have had all malt flavor drained from it in pursuit of tasting like a spirit and/or a pastry. But there was still walking to be done before I could take some libation.

Heading down Winnebago Street I stopped to look at all of the new apartments.



Most, if not all, of that space used to be vacant lots. But Madison keeps growing.

And here's the mural on Trinity Lutheran Church.



This is the front of the church.



Notice that it has that same material as St. Bernard did – that faux stacked shale or whatever you call it. After you notice it once, you see it a fair amount around town. Take a gander at the south side of University Avenue west of Farley Avenue and you'll see it – the well, Smoky's Club, and Century House, for example.

No one reading this series of blog posts should be at all surprised to learn that it didn't take me long to run into another Sid Boyum sculpture. In that greenspace bounded by First and Winnebago Streets and Eastwood Drive we find "Geometric With Round Window".



Across the street on Winnebago is a house whose front yard looks like this:



Nice and overgrown with a clutch of wreaths. But how do the occupants get mail delivered?

The sidewalk on Merry Street has a wonderfully enveloping canopy.



At the river, where Winnebago ends and Williamson Street begins, there is a utility box that has been artified.



I'm not sure when the practice began here in Madison but they're a common sight today.

Here's the mural on the side of Banzo Shük.



Presumably it was done by the same person that did the mural for Next Door Brewing.

On the east/south side there's a poem to be found in the sidewalk.



A bit farther down the street is a mural that has seen better days. I do not recall this one in its full glory.



Café Coda was rockin' when I passed by.



I honestly had no idea that CBD was popular enough to warrant a shop dedicated to it but that it certainly the case on Willy Street.



Indeed it is so popular that it apparently merits multiple stores dedicated to it as another one will be opening in the former Mad Cat space just down the street from Quality CBD.



A couple days later I was informed that there was already a second CBD joint open on Willy Street. Apparently, my focus on taking snaps of murals and ghost signs (and walking on the other side of the street) led me to miss it. So that makes three hemphouses dedicated to the stuff within a few blocks of one another and surely the Willy Street Co-op carries it as well. Uff da!

Here are most of the rest of the murals and ghost signs of Willy Street.



The Social Justice Center



It's nice to see something dedicated to Otis Redding beyond the plaque at the Terrace.



The latest in Mother Fools rotating series of murals.



Restored not too long ago, I think the sign dates back to the 1950s. Gardner's Bakery used to be just 2 or 3 blocks away.



Pig in a Fur Coat



Plan B's, er, sorry - Prism's mural has a couple rough patches. Perhaps the new owners will get that fixed.



This building is a city landmark. It's was Biederstaedt-Breitenbach Grocery and built in 1874.



Reaching Livingston Strasse it was time to leave Willy St. My gruit was almost within reach. While the isthmus' industrial past is fading, the power plant is sure to be there for some time to come.



Hey you, Appling
Ha, ha, charade you are
Julaine you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry

Ramblin' past Madison's newest concert auditorium, The Sylvee, I was getting mighty thirsty.



Taking a seat at the Tangent bar, I was hot, a bit sweaty, and parched. A tap list was put in front of me but it wasn't needed. "Barkeep, one gruit, please!"



Malty sweet, a bit tart, and full of floral/herbal goodness without a cone of Citra hops in sight. That's a mighty fine beer. I'd read a review of Tangent's food which was not particularly flattering but, having worked up an appetite, I ordered some grub anyway. I can tell you that the chopped salad was quite tasty.

After my brief respite and with my journey halfway done, I moseyed out the front door and began trekking down East Washington.

The journey continues...

Summertime Perambulations: It's the Music That Matters

Previous perambulation

My stop at Sugar Shack resulted in no new music entering my collection. Sections of one of the CD racks have been empty for a while now and a notice at the counter informs us that they are not currently buying merchandise. I've never been intimately familiar with the vagaries of owning and running a record store and I'm sure things are much more difficult today than ever before with streaming services, YouTube, and downloads. Whatever may be happening at Sugar Shack, I hope they remain in business.

Traipsing by The Harmony I spied this:



What's the architectural term for that bas relief thingy up by the top of the wall? Is it a frieze? My ignorance of architecture aside, it's a nice little bit of ornamentation. Likewise that lunette. What a shame that most of the rest of the building is now covered in siding, likely vinyl, that is rather ugly, to my eyes, in contrast to the old brick and whatnot.

Across the street where the Capital City Trail intersects Atwood Aveneue are a couple more pieces by Sid Boyum which are probably the most well-known of the lot, "Smiling Mushroom" and "Blue Dragon Urn".



A block west on Atwood in that triangular grassy area bordered by Atwood, Eastwood Drive, and Division Street is another of his works, "Tree Limb Faces" or "Tree Spirits", depending if you go by the stone plaque at the base of the sculpture or the website of the Friends of Sid Boyum.



Across Division Street in that little wooded area that abuts Monty's Blue Plate Diner's parking lot are yet even more of Boyum's art. This is "Creature Abstract":



While this one is called "Blue Tripod":



Across the street is the historic and lovely Barrymore Theatre. Built in 1929 it has seen its share of movies (blue and otherwise), live performances, community events, etc. Some history can be found at the theatre's website. It'd be wonderful if the porticos make a return.



I saw my first concert in Madison there. Or at least my first concert off campus, anyway. It was Blues Traveler on 19 March 1991. A guy on my dorm floor had a spare ticket so we hoofed it there from campus stopping for a few pulls from a hip flask and to share a joint in that space between buildings on the south side of what is now Union Hair Parlor. That walkway is now gated and fenced off. Thinking about other shows I've attended at the Barrymore, I realize I have a habit of seeing Richard Thompson there in the wake of some upheaval in my life, e.g. – being dumped by a girlfriend or the death of a relative.

On the next block at 2044 Atwood is a building that used to house a Chinese restaurant but now appears vacant. Part of the roof is looking a little rough. I rather like this building and hope it gets a little love and a new tenant soon.



Eventually I walk into Mad City Music and find that the proprietor, Dave Zero, is there. I haven't seen him in some time. I peruse the used CDs before heading to the counter to order some tunes. Sadly, Adrian Belew's new album is only available via his website while 3 Feet High and Rising is out of print. Only A Rainbow in Curved Air can be had and it's an import at that. Not a total loss though I would not return home with any new music for my collection.

Ramblin' on to Willy Street

Summertime Perambulations Part II

Previous perambulation

Heading down Atwood Avenue the air is sweetly scented as I pass homes with front yards adorned with flowers. Once you get west of Starkweather Creek (which always makes me think of the great Starkweather-Moore expedition of 1933 - and are in the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood, the houses become pre-war with smaller lots and the cookie cutter designs of my own Eastmorland dissolve into an array of styles.

I take a detour to the north and head to Wirth Court Park where another Sid Boyum sculpture lives. Curiously enough, I walked by a gentleman who looked an awful lot like Brian Standing, the president of the Friends of Sid Boyum, a group dedicated to preserving his art and legacy.



I am not sure if the artist himself entitled this work "Hippopotamus" or if that is simply how it is referred to today. The inlaid tile border is really beautiful.

Heading back south I discover that the Madison-Kipp Corporation has some new, well new-ish, murals.



Plus the Goodman Community Center has revitalized the Madison Brass Works ghost sign on their shiny new expansion.



It had been a while since I ambled down Waubesa Street and I found that the Goodman Center had a really need yard with a large water hoolie for people to cool down under, seating, and one of those ubiquitous cow statues.

Whilst trekking back to Atwood Avenue, I find myself walking by Boyum's home.



A sculpture (or was it two?) was sitting in the long grass alongside the driveway.

Continuing south I end up at my next destination which was Elmside Circle Park, home to Boyum's "Polar Bear Chair".



Sadly, it resides on the south side of the park away from the swings and slides. I hope the neighborhood kids give it some love and attention.

Back on Atwood Ave., I walk by the metallic statuary on the perimeter of Daisy Café & Cupcakery's parking lot.



Across the street I spot the first of several ghost signs that I'd encounter on my walk.



The Thorson Store Fixture Co. was in business from 1935-1970 and this ghost sign is a relatively new find. More for a bit more history of the business, check out this post at the East Side History Madison's Blog. While I'm at it, check out the Facebook page of Ghost Signs of Madison, Wisconsin which is run by Maureen Janson Heintz.

I stopped in at the BP on Atwood and Miller for some refreshment and saw this holiday/memento mori decoration on the door.



On the interior was an Easter drawing. Nice dichotomy of the sacred and profane – circle of life and all that. You know, that Jungian thing.

I spied these on the facade of Atwood Studios.




The heads are new additions but the light fixtures are surely old. I had never noticed these before despite having driven by and ridden by on the bus countless times. Plus I've even frequented a business in the building yet they never drew my attention. That, I suppose, is the joy of perambulating. Being cognizant of your surroundings as opposed to focusing on your destination. It's a shame that the newer buildings here in Madison have no such detail.

Next door to Atwood Studios is The Victory, coffeehouse. It has a funkadelic mural on the Corry Street side of the building.



Sadly, I've never been to The Victory but they have (had?) a sign on their windows proudly announcing that they lacked wireless and so patrons would have to socialize with one another.

Across the street at Next Door Brewing Co. they have a mural for their outdoor seating area.



It's been a while since I've stepped inside. They have good food, including some items that use their beer/spent grains as an ingredient, and a decent beer selection, as far as my taste goes. Like most breweries and brewpubs, they have more their fair share of IPAs but they also find time to throw a Czech dark lager into the rotation. Plus they brew a fine Berliner Weisse, even if it is kettle soured, during the summer. In years past an array of Schlüsse have been on offer from the traditional raspberry and woodruff to mango and other tropical fruit flavors. (Because pretty much everything in craft beer these days revolves around tasting like fruit punch.)

Continuing down Atwood I pass the lovely St. Bernard church. My assumption is that it is named after Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the big dogs of 12th century Catholicism.



Not being Catholic I must admit I don't know much about the church beyond their brat stands which are a fixture of weekends during the summer. Does anyone know what you call that kind of exterior? I am assuming it's not actual pieces of slate or whatever kind of rock it may be stacked atop one another. Must be something that comes in sheets that you can just slap on the walls. This is not the only church I encountered on this walk to look like this. Plus it seems that at least a few of Madison's wells have this same kind of exterior.

Down the street I find this little ditty.



It's a box that holds those little flags you wave when you want to cross the street which were apparently all across the street in its sister box.

My first stop in search of music – the ostensible purpose of my journey - would be at Sugar Shack Records…

Ensuing perambulation

Summertime Perambulations

Recently I found myself in a peripatetic frame of mind and took a little walk. I had it in mind to accomplish a couple of things that I'd been meaning to do for a while: 1) do some music shopping and 2) head over to Tangent and try their gruit. Since it was a nice day, I decided to hoof it down to my local purveyors of CDs and then over to Tangent for a drink.

WARNING! Tangent (no pun intended) ahead.

There were three albums that I was keen on adding to my collection. First there was Adrian Belew's Pop-Sided which I'd only heard of the day before. I am falling behind on new stuff by proggy legends. 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul came next in line because I had heard a bit of "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)" the week before and realized I should probably have that album in my collection. Lastly and most covetously was Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air.

I'm sure that I first heard of A Rainbow in Curved Air, like many fans of The Who, in reference to its influence on Pete Townshend in 1970 when he was composing the tunes for Who's Next. After all, the "Riley" in "Baba O'Riley" is Terry. I've known about the influence of the avant-garde composer/musician and his electronic minimalist album for years, decades really. But having read about it while in high school, I assumed it was an obscure bit of experimentalism known only to the select few initiates of the Cult of Riley. Presumably Pete Townshend had found a rare copy while on tour at a Brigadoon-like record store in New York or Chicago that only appeared to customers on nights when the moon was full between the summer and winter solstices. I mentally filed it away as an album to listen to someday, if it could ever be found.

That was some time in the second half of the 1980s. Along comes the Internet making much obscure music available and even for free in most cases. But it didn't occur to me to scour YouTube for it until a few months ago while I was in media res of a The Who binge. I was listening to some of Pete Townshend's demos, specifically the one for "Baba O'Riley", when it suddenly occurred to me to seek out A Rainbow in Curved Air. And so I did and holy Christ was it good.

You can listen to it here. Once you've done that, check out Townshend's demo for "Baba O'Riley" to hear the influence. I learned fairly recently that the keyboard parts to "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", which I've always assumed to be synthesizers, were, in fact, Lowrey organs. For the former a repeat setting was used while the organ was run through a synthesizer for the latter. To top things off, I have also discovered that bits from A Rainbow in Curved Air were used in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show. I believe they are to be heard during the entries to the Guide itself.

Tangent over.

So, with my goals set, I struck out on foot.

I live in the Eastmorland neighborhood. It's a fairly sleepy bedroom community. The kind of place that realtors would tell prospective buyers is close to urban amenities to elide over the fact that it doesn't actually have many of them within its boundaries. One thing it does have, however, is Olbrich Park, an expanse of green on both sides of Atwood Avenue with a goodly amount of shoreline on Lake Monona. So I began by traipsing by the new park shelter still under construction.



Crossing Starkweather Creek meant that I was outside Olbrich Gardens. Evergreens line the fence that borders the sidewalk.





This stretch along the sidewalk not only looks wonderful with all of the trees and flowers decorating the perimeter of the gardens but smells magnificent as well. Indeed, this was the first of a few times that my nose caught a floral scent while I was walking that day. I'd look over at the nearest bed of flowers only to not recognize them and be saddened that our lilacs were not particularly fragrant this year.

At the corner of Atwood and Oakridge is a sign announcing that I was entering the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood and a short distance away was this:



Just as the Poles have their kapliczka, Schenk-Atwood has its sculptures announcing that you are entering Sid Boyum territory. Boyum was a Madison artist who resided in the neighborhood. He died in 1991 and his concrete sculptuary now dots the landscape of the Schenk-Atwood and Marquette neighborhoods. His departure from this world left a house full of art and a backyard full of sculptures. With efforts underway to preserve his legacy, I presume we'll be seeing more of his work put on public display.

Subsequent perambulation